Or at least I think she did. With the amount of creamy cereal spewing out of that cute little mouth, I doubt any made it's way to her belly. But watching her experience a spoon with food on it was quite the spectacle. We have video, and my husband and I share some giggles, but it was hard to tell if she really loved it.
First a complaint. I don't love the Graco highchair we have for her. It's difficult to set up with one hand. And if you're a parent, you know that 80% of the time, you only get to use one.
Once we got her strapped in we put a new bib on her. (The front of it reads "My mom is hotter than your mom," courtesy of my sister Sarah.) I had been putting her in the highchair for a few minutes at a time each day for the past week. I didn't want the whole experience to be a shock. She relaxed after a minute or two and I pulled out the plastic bowl and spoon. Her eyebrows went up and mouth opened super wide in excitement. She even did her little excited dance, her dance reminds me of Willow's happy dance where her tail wags her whole body.
Since the cereal was mixed with breastmilk it really didn't taste all that different to her. It was more of a texture thing combined with a new untensil. She had to figure out how to get the food down without the aid of a bottle. And she didn't get much. After about 10 minutes of experiencing the novelty of the spoon she started to get really frustrated. I would too if I was tasting something great, but started to have hunger pains.
Even though we started the process before it was mealtime we could tell she was super hungry. So we quickly wiped the excess cereal from her nose, cheese, and forehead and I took her out of the chair to feed her the normal way.
It was pretty amazing to see her experience a new way to eat. I can't wait to try out different foods and capture each smirk and spittle.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
The Ultimate Baby Authority
Who is the ultimate baby authority? Is it my pediatrician? My mom? A crazy relative who just happened to pop out three children? Lately it seems like everyone has not just an opinion but the opinion on raising Izzy. Perhaps I've been spared the overwhelming onslaught of critiques and caustic questioning for the first five months of Izzy's life. But lately I've been hearing a whole lot of "You did what?!" or "That's not the way to do it." Or maybe it didn't dawn on me that so many people were giving their 2 cents (shouldn't I be rich by now?) It finally struck me this weekend that there were one too many people giving me direction on how to raise the little baby who I carried for 9 months.
Family and friends, many of them mothers, had gathered for my sister's baby shower. By no means am I a selfish mommy, I liberally pass Izzy to almost anyone. What I didn't expect was for people to snatch her, mid-diaper change no less. At one time I could anticipate the "friendly suggestions" on how to improve my diaper changing techniques. But I had no idea that fending off snatchers was a full contact sport. Too bad I left my helmet at home. "This is how you do it," started one mom as she pushed me aside to demonstrate. Really? After 5 months you don't think I figured this out? At one point I just had to give in, I was there to throw a shower for my sister. After two hours of watching Izzy being passed like liquor stolen from a locked cabinet amongst teenagers, I finally got her back. Maybe it was in my head, but I swear she glared at me until her next nap.
We had another family event on Sunday and this time Izzy was meeting some of my aunts and uncles that she never met before. I dodged the occasional suggestion and danced around topics I didn't want to discuss until it was bottle time. I found a relatively quiet spot and sat with Izzy while she tried to fill up on the pumped liquid gold. Within seconds a crowd formed and I hoped Izzy would chug the bottle so we could avoid critique. A family member, who shall remain nameless, thought it would be a good idea to tickle Izzy's defensless little feet. At first I quietly urged the tormentor to stop. As the attact raged on, another family member began to chide me that it was time to burp Izzy. Thinking that her feet would be out of reach while I burped her, I strategically threw Izzy onto my shoulder and gently patted away. A quiet little burp escaped and I turned her around to give her more of the bottle. And just as she turned she spewed milk and saliva everywhere. This wasn't just some little spit up, this was projectile cream, and sent in the direction of the tickler. With eyes that could kill I glared at the tickler, words were not needed. The tickler quickly made her escape. As she escaped my chiding aunt quickly accused me of not burping her soon enough. Although, in the same breath she also accused the tickler saying that tickle is torture to babies.
That's just a snipet from this past weekend. I know I need to not take things so personal, but when the "guidance" is coming from all directions it's hard not to feel inadequate. I need to work on my confidence as a mother.
Family and friends, many of them mothers, had gathered for my sister's baby shower. By no means am I a selfish mommy, I liberally pass Izzy to almost anyone. What I didn't expect was for people to snatch her, mid-diaper change no less. At one time I could anticipate the "friendly suggestions" on how to improve my diaper changing techniques. But I had no idea that fending off snatchers was a full contact sport. Too bad I left my helmet at home. "This is how you do it," started one mom as she pushed me aside to demonstrate. Really? After 5 months you don't think I figured this out? At one point I just had to give in, I was there to throw a shower for my sister. After two hours of watching Izzy being passed like liquor stolen from a locked cabinet amongst teenagers, I finally got her back. Maybe it was in my head, but I swear she glared at me until her next nap.
We had another family event on Sunday and this time Izzy was meeting some of my aunts and uncles that she never met before. I dodged the occasional suggestion and danced around topics I didn't want to discuss until it was bottle time. I found a relatively quiet spot and sat with Izzy while she tried to fill up on the pumped liquid gold. Within seconds a crowd formed and I hoped Izzy would chug the bottle so we could avoid critique. A family member, who shall remain nameless, thought it would be a good idea to tickle Izzy's defensless little feet. At first I quietly urged the tormentor to stop. As the attact raged on, another family member began to chide me that it was time to burp Izzy. Thinking that her feet would be out of reach while I burped her, I strategically threw Izzy onto my shoulder and gently patted away. A quiet little burp escaped and I turned her around to give her more of the bottle. And just as she turned she spewed milk and saliva everywhere. This wasn't just some little spit up, this was projectile cream, and sent in the direction of the tickler. With eyes that could kill I glared at the tickler, words were not needed. The tickler quickly made her escape. As she escaped my chiding aunt quickly accused me of not burping her soon enough. Although, in the same breath she also accused the tickler saying that tickle is torture to babies.
That's just a snipet from this past weekend. I know I need to not take things so personal, but when the "guidance" is coming from all directions it's hard not to feel inadequate. I need to work on my confidence as a mother.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Gearing up for solids
Enough talk! It's time to introduce solids to Izzy. I haven't made too big of a deal out of it to friends and family because I don't want to deal with the onslaught of advice that comes with the announcement. Instead I've made the following purchases that I hope will aid the big introduction:
• First Meals by Annabel Karmel
• Baby Food Freezer Trays
These are worthy of adding to your registry, which I didn't think of a year ago. I read through the recipes, did the shopping, own the equipment, now onto the cooking.
The recipes seemed simple enough. Get some fresh veggies or fruit and steam them. Then put your freshie (fresh fruit or veggie) and a little of the water used to steam your chosen freshie into a blender, or food processor, or one of the blenders marketed just for making baby food, and hit the button. (Or crank a food mill if you have the time.) But there's a little more to it.
Should we go the organic route?
Words like pesticides and antibiotics send shivers down my spine. Now that I think about those words in relation to my baby I get nauseous. So you can imagine that organics were an obvious choice for us. I strongly believe that all those additives have a negative impact on one's health. And bonus! I get to shop at whole foods without feeling like a yuppy because I’m doing it for Izzy.
What freshies should we choose for Izzy first?
We will heed the advice of our pediatrician (and every book I read) and go with rice cereal. I ordered Happy Bellies brown rice for her first solids. But after she gets used to the cereal we’ll introduce her to one type of freshie every couple days. On our adventure to whole foods, I bought carrots, broccoli, pears and apples. Seemed like enough variety to get things started. I knew I would be freezing most of these.
After rounding up the supplies, equipment and food, I spend some time running my own cooking show for Izzy. She sat in her highchair and looked on as I peeled and chopped everything up. As each item steamed to perfection, I would narrate the process to Izzy. Fortunately it doesn’t take long for freshies to cook or else we would have had one bored little baby.
All that was left to do was to freeze the excess. I poured the mush into the freezer trays and closed the lids tightly. The freezer trays and containers hold 1 to 2 oz. of food, so she’ll have food for the next month.
I just hope Izzy likes broccoli, or I’ll be making a broccoli mush soup for Mommy and Daddy.
• First Meals by Annabel Karmel
• Baby Food Freezer Trays
These are worthy of adding to your registry, which I didn't think of a year ago. I read through the recipes, did the shopping, own the equipment, now onto the cooking.
The recipes seemed simple enough. Get some fresh veggies or fruit and steam them. Then put your freshie (fresh fruit or veggie) and a little of the water used to steam your chosen freshie into a blender, or food processor, or one of the blenders marketed just for making baby food, and hit the button. (Or crank a food mill if you have the time.) But there's a little more to it.
Should we go the organic route?
Words like pesticides and antibiotics send shivers down my spine. Now that I think about those words in relation to my baby I get nauseous. So you can imagine that organics were an obvious choice for us. I strongly believe that all those additives have a negative impact on one's health. And bonus! I get to shop at whole foods without feeling like a yuppy because I’m doing it for Izzy.
What freshies should we choose for Izzy first?
We will heed the advice of our pediatrician (and every book I read) and go with rice cereal. I ordered Happy Bellies brown rice for her first solids. But after she gets used to the cereal we’ll introduce her to one type of freshie every couple days. On our adventure to whole foods, I bought carrots, broccoli, pears and apples. Seemed like enough variety to get things started. I knew I would be freezing most of these.
After rounding up the supplies, equipment and food, I spend some time running my own cooking show for Izzy. She sat in her highchair and looked on as I peeled and chopped everything up. As each item steamed to perfection, I would narrate the process to Izzy. Fortunately it doesn’t take long for freshies to cook or else we would have had one bored little baby.
All that was left to do was to freeze the excess. I poured the mush into the freezer trays and closed the lids tightly. The freezer trays and containers hold 1 to 2 oz. of food, so she’ll have food for the next month.
I just hope Izzy likes broccoli, or I’ll be making a broccoli mush soup for Mommy and Daddy.
Sleepy nights and no solids
Another week has passed, and I did not give Izzy solid food, and for very good reasons. She has been sleeping through the night, and she has leveled off at 4.5 oz bottles 5 times a day, a rate that I can keep up with.
But I couldn't resist getting the high chair ready. We went with the Gracco Contempo and it was super simple to set up. I wish the directions told me whether or not my child is ready for the high chair, but I guess that's another judgement call I have to make. I'm thinking of trying her out in it for a few minutes at a time until she is used to it.
And Izzy isn't the only one who needs to get used to the high chair. Lovable nosey Willow will need her own time inspecting the new piece of furniture. I'm comforted that the chair has several levels and I can put the baby at the highest level, a.k.a. out of Willow's reach level. I just hope this chair is sturdy enough to handle a couple of bumps from the dog. The key here is making sure Willow doesn't push the thing over. Don't worry, I'm very experienced in body blocking the dog before she bulldozes something (or someone) over.
After both of my girls are comfortable with the chair, I fully expect Izzy to be tossing food over the side for Willow's benefit. And really, we all win, Izzy gets to experience food. Willow gets to slurp up after the spills, and cleaning time will be minimal for me.
But I couldn't resist getting the high chair ready. We went with the Gracco Contempo and it was super simple to set up. I wish the directions told me whether or not my child is ready for the high chair, but I guess that's another judgement call I have to make. I'm thinking of trying her out in it for a few minutes at a time until she is used to it.
And Izzy isn't the only one who needs to get used to the high chair. Lovable nosey Willow will need her own time inspecting the new piece of furniture. I'm comforted that the chair has several levels and I can put the baby at the highest level, a.k.a. out of Willow's reach level. I just hope this chair is sturdy enough to handle a couple of bumps from the dog. The key here is making sure Willow doesn't push the thing over. Don't worry, I'm very experienced in body blocking the dog before she bulldozes something (or someone) over.
After both of my girls are comfortable with the chair, I fully expect Izzy to be tossing food over the side for Willow's benefit. And really, we all win, Izzy gets to experience food. Willow gets to slurp up after the spills, and cleaning time will be minimal for me.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Izzy rolled!
My little girl has made her first huge move to becoming mobile. Gramma and Grampa caught it on camera, and she repeated it for us later. Izzy, no longer amused with the scenery, manged to go from her tummy to her back. The night before the big event I tried to guide her from her tummy to her back. She has never been a fan of tummy time, and I knew her first roll would be to get out of tummy time. I just hoped she would do it for Joe and I first. Too bad that she's already tired after a long day by the time we get to be with her.
Now the only trouble will be keeping her on her tummy for tummy time, and getting her to roll from her back to her tummy. I'm going to start by trying to follow her favorite toy. We'll see how it goes.
Now the only trouble will be keeping her on her tummy for tummy time, and getting her to roll from her back to her tummy. I'm going to start by trying to follow her favorite toy. We'll see how it goes.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Introducing Solids to Little Izzy
I find myself having the same argument with my mother any time I tell her Izzy didn't sleep through the night. Her side, "Give her cereal, it will make her tummy full and she'll sleep longer." My opposition, "She's not mentally ready for it."
After repeating this same argument over and over, and fruitlessly hoping my mother will understand, I'm giving in. It is time for Izzy to try solids. First I must tell you why. She's not sleeping through the night. That is as close as I'll come to admitting my mother may be right. To further explain, she's eating more and more breastmilk every day. In two weeks she has gone from 4 oz. at each feeding to 5 oz. I found it alarming that she chugged a bottle at 10 p.m. after already eating at 6p.m. and 8p.m. Usually she goes three hours in between. So she is showing she needs more substanence, and it doesn't necessarily mean she needs solids to keep up. Perhaps I should just pump more? Or break into the frozen blocks of breastmilk that I have stored since December. And this may not be a valid reason to start solids, but I don't want to supplement with formula.
And who knows, maybe she is mentally ready, but am I? My secret is excuse is that I'm not ready to do the work that goes with introducing solids. It seems challenging, and right now giving her a bottle, or breastfeeding is so simple.
According to her pediatrician, introducing solids should be fun. I should only try it out when she's in a good mood. So besides timing it right, and having Joe home for the first spoonful to the mouth, she's got to be happy about it. Shouldn't be too hard, she's generally a very happy little girl. But I know the first time Joe is home and ready to spectate, she'll inevitably be soured on something. Gas, teething pains, something.
In a few days, I hope to report back that Izzy made the funniest face when we gave her solids for the first time. But just in case that post doesn't happen for a while, please know that it's because the universe wasn't ready to cooperate.
After repeating this same argument over and over, and fruitlessly hoping my mother will understand, I'm giving in. It is time for Izzy to try solids. First I must tell you why. She's not sleeping through the night. That is as close as I'll come to admitting my mother may be right. To further explain, she's eating more and more breastmilk every day. In two weeks she has gone from 4 oz. at each feeding to 5 oz. I found it alarming that she chugged a bottle at 10 p.m. after already eating at 6p.m. and 8p.m. Usually she goes three hours in between. So she is showing she needs more substanence, and it doesn't necessarily mean she needs solids to keep up. Perhaps I should just pump more? Or break into the frozen blocks of breastmilk that I have stored since December. And this may not be a valid reason to start solids, but I don't want to supplement with formula.
And who knows, maybe she is mentally ready, but am I? My secret is excuse is that I'm not ready to do the work that goes with introducing solids. It seems challenging, and right now giving her a bottle, or breastfeeding is so simple.
According to her pediatrician, introducing solids should be fun. I should only try it out when she's in a good mood. So besides timing it right, and having Joe home for the first spoonful to the mouth, she's got to be happy about it. Shouldn't be too hard, she's generally a very happy little girl. But I know the first time Joe is home and ready to spectate, she'll inevitably be soured on something. Gas, teething pains, something.
In a few days, I hope to report back that Izzy made the funniest face when we gave her solids for the first time. But just in case that post doesn't happen for a while, please know that it's because the universe wasn't ready to cooperate.
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